Gop Education Hearings To Discuss School Funding

August 14, 1995|By William Presecky, Tribune Staff Writer.

A trio of first-term Republicans whose Cook County legislative districts likely will be at the center of next year's battle for control of the Illinois House will host a series of education hearings Monday.

Billed as "education forums," the hearings mark the start of a long-term initiative Republicans say is designed to get residents involved in helping state legislators define a possible November 1996 referendum on the thorny issue of school funding.

But critics say the forums, hosted by state Reps. Flora Ciarlo (R-Steger), Jack O'Connor (R-Palos Heights) and Eileen Lyons (R-Western Springs), are merely a stalling tactic. They say they want school funding overhauled now and don't want to wait until 1996, after the general election, for relief.

All three GOP newcomers are expected to face stiff Democratic opposition in 1996.

"Anyone attending any of these hearings is probably going to hear some unflattering things. (School funding) is a big concern and we're ready to hear all sides of it (including) the good, the bad and the ugly," said Lena Petersen, a House Republican spokesman.

The decision by the Republican-controlled General Assembly this year to extend property tax caps to suburban Cook County has irritated some local education officials and parents. So has the refusal to adjust the caps to accommodate a property reassessment schedule that further constrains the spending ability of local governments in the south suburbs.

O'Connor said he anticipates that the forums, which will be held in Chicago Heights, Palos Heights and Western Springs, will yield "realistic input from day-to-day educators" on the issue of school funding, a subject about which, he admits, little has been left unsaid.

"Sometimes you can hear things, but until you hear them right from the source that is directly affected, it's amazing what you can pick up," said O'Connor, noting that he hoped to hear more than the refrain on the need to shift from property taxes to income taxes to fund schools.

"I'm hoping to find that there is money in the state funding formula right now that isn't being utilized properly," he said.

But Mike Turay, a Crete area resident who has been critical of the legislature's failure to reform school funding, said Monday's sessions and talk of a 1996 referendum lack substance.

"What I think they are trying to do is to take any excuse possible not to make this an election issue next year," said Turay. "Neither party wants to touch this," he said.

Turay said he is working with the Illinois PTA, local civic groups and a group called the Coalition for Education Rights, based in Chicago, to keep school funding reform in the forefront of the 1996 political campaigns. The groups are organizing a set of public forums to begin in September, he said.

Still, Ciarlo said she believes the representatives' forums indeed will get community members directly involved in a brainstorming session on improving funding for education.

"The question is `Can we be creative and can we work something out together?' "said Ciarlo.

Both Ciarlo and O'Connor said education and school funding are going to be central issues in the legislature next year. School officials and parents have been invited to testify.